By Naman Trivedi

Copyright timesnownews

Assata Shakur, the Black Liberation Army activist who spent decades as a fugitive in Cuba, has died at the age of 78. Shakur, born JoAnne Chesimard, fled the United States in 1979 after escaping from a New Jersey prison, where she was serving a life sentence for the 1973 killing of a state trooper. She surfaced in Havana in 1984 and remained a symbol of revolutionary resistance and a flashpoint in US-Cuba relations until her death, which Cuba’s foreign ministry said was due to “health complications and her advanced age.” While Assata’s political history is well known, her family ties, particularly her connection to iconic rapper Tupac Shakur, are less frequently explored. Ties to Tupac Shakur Assata was the godmother of Tupac Shakur, one of the most influential and politically outspoken figures in hip-hop history. The rapper often referenced Assata in his interviews and songs, seeing her as a symbol of Black resistance and government persecution. Tupac’s family was deeply rooted in the Black liberation movement. His stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, a fellow Black liberation activist, was imprisoned for decades for his role in politically motivated robberies and was only released in 2022 due to terminal cancer. He died in 2023 at the age of 72. Like Assata, Mutulu Shakur was a controversial and polarizing figure. Assata’s Daughter and Personal Life Assata’s daughter, Kakuya Shakur, was born during Assata’s murder trial. Kakuya’s father is Kamau Sadiki, a fellow activist and codefendant in the case. Assata rarely spoke publicly about her personal life but described raising her daughter in exile while continuing to write and teach in Cuba. In her memoir, Assata briefly discussed her short-lived marriage to Louis Chesimard, a fellow student-activist whom she married in 1967 and divorced in 1970. She attributed their split to differing views on gender roles. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.